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11-20-2010, 11:31 AM
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5598/title0.gif
Table of Content

Introduction

Hero Details

Skill Build

Item Build

Gameplay




Introduction


So, this is the guide to Kraken. As of the moment of me writing this guide, Kraken is a hero terribly misunderstood by most of the HoN community for some reason. Seriously, even from all the competitive Kraken games I've seen (around 4, I think), only once I've seen a Kraken going for a good build.


In writing this guide, I hope to enlighten some of the Kraken players, and perhaps see a day when most people actually play him as he should be played.
Anyway, I'll go on to the hero details right away...






Hero Details


Pros/Cons


Pros

-Incredibly strong early game, very strong late game, scales to late game.
-Awesome farmer.
-Big teamfight presence (if played right).
-Unique hero role.
-Fun hero to play

Cons
-Requires a lot of experience to play efficiently.
-Very, very item reliant.
-Clumsy hero (just as that).
-A misunderstood hero, so some stupid teammates may often flame you for farming instead of <Input X>.




Hero Stats


Str - 22 (+3)
Agi - 15 (+1.5)
Int - 16 (+1.7)

High enough early stats, combined with items, make Kraken into a very strong early-game hero. With an early shield, you can see his health merely moving from enemy harass.
With his stat gain, you can expect him having an incredible base health pool, on the par with the strongest tanks in the game.




Hero Role


Now, this right here is the tricky part.
Before I continue, I want to say that most of the community has absolutely no idea what role Kraken has. I see him build as an ganker-initiator, as a pure tank, and even sometimes as (bah, that's just disgusting) as a hybrid tank/support.
The truth to the matter is, Kraken has some potential in many different aspects. That generally confuses the player, sometimes making him do some stupid item, or even skill decisions. Hell, even the fact Ghost Marchers is in his recommended, while Steamboots are not, doesn't help.
The role Kraken has the most potential in, however, is a hybrid Physical-Tank/Carry.
Of course, you could always build him as a ganker, initiator, or pure tank. But that would be the same as building a carry Slither - it can be done, but it's just... wrong.
The real flavor in playing a Kraken, is that even if for some reason his early game isn't amazing (lots of ganks, losing all runes to opposing mid), he can always be played as a great tank and teamfight hero. His skills.. ok, ok, mainly his ulti, is a good enough tool to stay somewhat useful in any teamfight.



Hero Skills


Torrent
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/17/ability1_128.jpg
Type: Magic
Range: 700
Cast Time: 0.7 Seconds
Mana Cost: 120
Cooldown: 12.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Kraken conjures a surge of seawater, drowning an enemy. Deals damage, slows, and reduces armor.
Activation
Deals 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 Magic damage and applies Torrent to the target for 3 seconds.
Torrent Effects
-2 / -3 / -4 / -5 Armor
30% Movement Slow

Torrent is Krakens main nuke, which scales throughout the game.
First, it is a long ranged nuke. This is useful mainly at early game, to deal some extra damage.
Second, it's also as slow, and a static one at that. This will both help you with ganking, focusin a target during teamfights, and slowing individual people to hit your ulti on them.
And last, it also reduces the target's armor. This is a nice bunus to the other effects of this ability, and scales pretty well with your Splash (and auto-attacks, of course).


Tsunami Charge
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/17/ability2_128.jpg
Type: Magic
Range: 800
Cast Time: 0.1 Seconds
Mana Cost: 110
Cooldown: 14.0 / 13.0 / 12.0 / 11.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
Activation
Charges 800 units in the targeted direction.
Deals 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 Magic damage in a 200 AoE to all enemy units he charges past. On collision with an enemy hero, that hero is picked up and carried along with Kraken.
When he hits a cliff, building, or tree he stops charging. If he is carrying an enemy hero, that hero is stunned for 1 / 1.33 / 1.66 / 2 seconds and takes an additional 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 Magical damage.

This ability is useful in many different situations.
First, it is a great movement tool. You can use it to chase enemies too far ahead, or to escape. The range is static, so even 1 level in this skill would do enough. Be wary though, for you can cont use this as a movement enhancer in areas which are not completely open. You'd bump into a tree/cliff/other bullsh*t.
The second use of this ability is, naturally, damaging and stunning an enemy. However, from my experience, it's nearly f**king impossible to get into a position to charge and enemy, without him being snared in any way. So, in this form of use, this is mainly a follow-up for your ulti (or the stuns of your teammates).
Lastly, this is a great tool to disposition enemy heroes. For example, if there is a teamfight starting, and you see a Voodoo Jester running towards the mix to throw in a cocktail, rush him 800 units back away from the teamfight, and smash this little f**ker. Support heroes drop pretty quickly to Kraken. He'd have to turn back and try to escape.


Splash
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/17/ability3_128.jpg
Passive
Cooldown: 11.0 / 10.0 / 9.0 / 8.0 Seconds
Required Level: 1 / 3 / 5 / 7
On Attack
Deals 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 bonus Physical damage to targets in a 325 radius and an additional 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 Physical damage to targets in a 200 radius.
Attacking will reduce cooldown by 1 second.

So basically, this is Kraken's bread and butter ability. It's a mana free 180 damage physical nuke at level 4. Sounds sweet? Indeed it is.
This ability has a short cooldown, and every auto-attack decreases it. This has three main uses:
First, this is a great last hitting tool. Even at level 1, this ability will make you easily last-hit every enemy creep. At level 2, you can start safely last-hitting creeps from distance, by hitting their neighbors, with your AoE 100 damage.
Second, this is the most awesome Jungling tool you can ask for. You simply damage all the creep camp with a mana free nuke. This greatly helps you jungle, especially if the good supporters stacked some camps for you.
Third, it can harass enemy melee heroes on the lane, if they come in range.
Last but not least, this is definitely a huge boost to your damage, espcially early-mid game. You'll be seeing supporters lose 1/3 of their HP just from one splash hit by you. Crazy. This is also one of the abilities which helps you carry.


Release the Kraken!
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/17/ability4_128.jpg
Type: SuperiorMagic
Range: 600
Radius: 300
Mana Cost: 150
Cooldown: 110.0 / 100.0 / 90.0 Seconds
Required Level: 6 / 11 / 16
Activation
After a delay of 1 second a 300 radius whirlpool spawns, dealing 40 / 50 / 70 Magic damage per second, slowing by 50%, and pulling units towards the center with a force of 100 / 125 / 150. Any enemies who reach the center are dealt 200 / 300 / 400 Magic damage and are stunned for 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.
Lasts 3 / 4 / 5 seconds. Grants 200 day and night clearvision around the whirlpool while active.

The trademark ability of Davy Jo... ehhh, I meant of Kraken, is his incredibly powerful ultimate.
This ability is useful in any situation you may think of:
Ganking a hero? Use it.
Want to rape the enemy lane? Use it.
Teamfight? Use it.
Need vision of an escaping hero who hides in a small tree cluster? Use it.
Fishing? Use it, it pulls them fishes in.
It has even some secret (http://channelate.com/comics/2010-04-02-kraken.jpg) uses (http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/6981/honkrakenbyhliziazx.jpg).
This ultimate is a Superior Magic one, so that Predator isn't escaping it.
The only thing to note about this ultimate, is that it requires alot of good judgment and expirience playing Kraken to place it well during teamfights.
And I really mean the following: It is really easy to misplace this ultimate, and if you do misplace it in a teamfight, consider it a total waste of ultimate as well as probably a waste of lives - his ulti has huge impact on a teamfight, and makes a great difference, depending on the placement.






Skill Builds


First thing to note is, always max Splash first. This ability is just as important to Kraken as Mana Combustion is to Magebane. Even more, actually, since this ability is Krakens main farm, damage and harass ability at once.


Torrent Build
Splash (1)
Torrent (1)
Splash (2)
Torrent (2)
Splash (3)
Release the Kraken! (1)
Splash (4)
Torrent (3)
uTorrent (4)
Tsunami Charge (1)
Release the Kraken!! (2)
Tsunami Charge (2)
Tsunami Charge (3)
Tsunami Charge (4)
Stats (1)
Release the Kraken!!! (3)
Stats (2-10)


This build is focused on maxing Torrent first. Why? Because in your lane, you're unlikely to ever hit a Charge unless your lane partner is a double disabler (see :witc:,:poll:.. ). And by level 6, you simply wont have enough mana to use all 3 of your abilities (ulti included). So, you just max Torrent. This, combined with Splash, is enough to win a lane. I'm not even talking about the time you get your ulti..
Note: This is the only viable mid lane build.



Hybrid Build
Splash (1)
Torrent (1)
Splash (2)
Tsunami Charge (1)
Splash (3)
Release the Kraken! (1)
Splash (4)
Torrent / Tsunami Charge (2)
Torrent / Tsunami Charge (3)
Torrent / Tsunami Charge (4)
Release the Kraken!! (2)
Tsunami Charge / Torrent (2)
Tsunami Charge / Torrent (3)
Tsunami Charge / Torrent (4)
Stats (1)
Release the Kraken!!!1!! (3)
Stats (2-10)


You build your Kraken this way, if you think you might have to escape from your lane. This build naturally has lower damage per mana than the pure Torrent one, but to be honest, early nukes dont do much anyway - the main damage comes from Splash.
You might just get that level 1 charge, and proceed to max Torrent, simply having an escape tool at hand.






Item Builds

Starting Items


:LoggersHatchet:, :RunesOfTheBlight:x3, :MinorTotem:x2
The first item build you can try is this. The total 9 runes of blight are going to keep you alive long enough, and the Hatcher will allow you to last-hit between your Splashes, even with your crappy attack animation.

:LoggersHatchet::IronBuckler::RunesOfTheBlight:
The shield is going to make you practically unharassable on a lane, so the runes of blight are sufficient to keep you alive at the start.
This is the best item set to go mid with.



:MinorTotem:x2,:MarkOfTheNovice: ,:CrushingClaws:, :RunesOfTheBlight:x2
Some people like getting the chalice early. I dont, but I can't rule out this item build. If you want chalice as a first item do it.

:LoggersHatchet: ,:CrushingClaws:, :RunesOfTheBlight:x2
As above, just replace some of the items to get a hatchet first.



Core Items

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Steamboots.jpg


The only boots you should get are those. Kraken has 310 base movement speed, 2 slows and a charge - so he doesn't need Ghost Marchers for ganks or escape. The damage isn't worth it as well.
With Steamboots, you get 2 important things:
10 STR, which are both 190 HP and 10 damage. That's alot of HP.
25 Attack speed, which scales with your Splash.




http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Bottle.jpg

NOTE: ONLY VIABLE IF YOU'RE MID



If you go mid, and the enemy hero gets a bottle, you're only chance to stay on the lane is get one as well. Cause you can't efficiently interrupt his bottle drinking, and 405 HP (+210 mana) is just too much for you to overcome.



http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Shield2.jpg


This item is what you mostly go right after the boots.
This helm will make you nearly unkillable during the first 20 minutes.
You ever seen a Gladiator getting an early HoTBL? Well, the effect on Kraken is the same.
Plus, this item will allow you to stay in the jungle as much as you want, and Kraken is one of the best junglers (not early game ofc) due to his Splash.



http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_BloodChalice.jpg




I listed this item after HoTBL, because this is the best time to go for it. Before you get HoTBL, Kraken isn't supposed to leave the lane, thus you shouldn't be wasting too much mana other than for 1 lane-winning fight if needed. Plus, if you get it b4 HoTBL, it'd make you both weaker as you lose 150 HP, and you'd get HoTBL later, which is very bad by itself.
However, if you get it after HoTBL, this item would allow you to use your skills freely, without worrying about your mana running out before the next fight.



http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_DaemonicBreastplate.jpg



I've played the reworked Kraken for a long time. He even made his way to my top 5 played today (the moment I write this). And during all my games as Kraken, I've come to the clear conclusion this is the one best item for him. Just every little aspect in this item scales with Kraken.
Attack Speed - Scales with Splash.
Armor - Scales with physical tankiness.
Negative Armor - Scales with Splash again.

This is the very item which allows Kraken to undertake the role I mentioned earlier (Tank/Carry), and succeed.
With all the bonuses of this item, Kraken can go toe-to-toe with another carry and win the fight.
In short, this item is core on Kraken.



Late Game Items

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Freeze.jpg


If the game goes on, and you've already gotten your Breastplate, start working on this item, since you're going to need it.


This item gives you every possible bonus you can get, so I'll recap it all:
-Slightly more damage
-With this item, you'll have 3200+ HP (if you get it by the order in this item list).
-Mana pool sufficient to finally stop worrying about it completely, and spam your skills.
-Your Torrent applies a total of 51% for 3 seconds, so nobody can escape your ulti if you use it on them (blinkers, Andro and tablet excluded).
-You can go 1v1 with enemy carries and slow them, with 20% of their AS. That's a huge changer.
-You finally dont rely only on your Torrent to slow, and are able to chase targets just with auto-attacks.
-25 Agi, which is a bit armor, and 25 Attack speed.
Hope this explains why I always get it right after Breastplate.



Super-Late Game Items


http://i55.tinypic.com/wtit4x.jpg


If the game goes ridiculously long, you're gonna need some pure damage to stay competent as a carry. Get this item, cause at that point, it increases your DPS alot.



http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Weapon3.jpg




Same idea as Riftshards, but in the case of enemy carry going for :Wingbow:.



HERP



http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_Damage9.jpg

DERP

Extract
11-20-2010, 11:31 AM
Gameplay


Laning

2v2 Side lane


With great starting stats, Kraken is an amazing side-lane hero.
You should just lane him with a good supporter, and you have an ultra strong lane. By good supporter, I mean :glac:, :poll:, :plag:, :witc:, :slit:, :vood:, :tort:.
The play style with each supporter is different, yet it comes down to him harassing alot, than double slow combination by both of you (if he's a slower). or just you slowing and he stunning. Than, you proceed to rape the targeted hero. Outside of fighting, just lasthit everything you see. With :LoggersHatchet: and Splash, getting ck is easier than ever.



3v3 Side lane


3laning with Kraken is.. meh. But it can be done, and quite successfully. In the 3lane, try to always be aggressive, positioning yourself in front of the supporters, and always ready to initiate on the enemy if the supporters land a stun. Why? Cause you're one of the toughest heroes out there, and if all the enemies try to focus you, your 2 supporters have a good change to pick of one of the enemy supporters, while you escape. Of course, this doesn't mean you should always stand 500 units before the creeps wave and feed the enemy... Just - be an aggressive 3lane.



Middle lane


In mid, there are two scenarios: against a melee, and against a ranged.
In the first case, you have a significant advantage against the enemy, since Kraken can win against any mid lane easily (except :mora:, whose axes match the harass and lashitting of Kraken's Splash). You if you don't lose runes, and don't get ganked, you should be fine. Just stand there and lasthit/deny, hitting the enemy with splash if he stands too close.
If you're against a ranged, your harassing goes away. That's a huge factor, and that's why you should try to avoid such situations. If you still ended up against a ranged mid, your best bet is just coming down of the ramp every time you can lasthit, and guarding the ramp so the enemy ranged cant climb it. Also, every rune you get gives you an advantage, especially Haste and Invisibility, since with good positioning Kraken can kill almost any ranged mid hero.
As a rule of thumb in both cases - do not leave the lane until you've farmed your boots and preferably HoTBL. Than, you can roam around, ganking enemy lanes and pushing.





Mid Game


Mid game usually starts at around the 20th minute, and lasts until the 40th minute or so.
If you've been doing very well early game (When you've got your HoTBL around 11-13 minutes into the game), you should already have either the armor or the AS from your Breastplate components. You're team should be pushing, with you in front. That is, of course, if the enemy team doesn't have much better early-game teamfight team. While you are not pushing, you should farm, either in your jungle or in their (in their is only viable if you are really far ahead in the game, or if you got tons of wards).
In other cases, you should be either farming or helping your team to push/defend/gank. I can't really tell you when to do what, I can just say that experienced Kraken's can see when to do which thing.






Late Game


Same as mid game, only that at this point your abilities do less damage to the enemy carries, and you already can't combo down any enemy you focus by yourself.
Teamwork is the key here.






General Advice


Ultimate
While releasing the Kraken may be a huge ability, it's also one that requires quite some experience and skill to use:
- Never place the ultimate randomly in the middle of a teamfight. Many people do, and it results in a total waste. Always use it in a specific situation where you know it hits or achieves its goal.
- If you're chasing someone just before a teamfight (aka both teams are nearby, and a teamfight is about to start, dont waste your ultimate on him unless he is a fragile hero with huge teamfight impact (:hell:, :thun: and more..) and you sure you can kill him with your ulti.
- If you're chasing someone, and not expecting a teamfight soon, dont hesitate to use your ultimate. Again though, dont forget to place it in the right moment, so it actually hits the enemy.
- If someone is attempting to channel a stun on you (:pand:, :devo: and more..), placing your ulti near him just before the channeling guarantees the channeling will be a short one, as he'd get pulled to the middle of your ulti and stunned.


Farming
- Dont forget to farm! Seriously, this is what you should be doing most of the early-mid game, since your Splash makes you such an amazing farmer.
- Once you got your HoTBL, you can farm anything, even ancients. Dragons are a tasty cookie for Kraken!
- With Splash, you benefit alot from stacked camps.
- I get mad if I hear the team telling me I should leave the creeps to <X carry>. Kraken benefits from items just as much as any semi-carry/avg carry does, apart from the hardest ones (:sand:, :pupp:, :mage: and a very few more). Thus, unless your team has some very item-reliant carry, you're the one who should be taking the creeps if you're closer to them.

Charge
Charge is your normal stun, which is quite powerful yet not easy to lend.
- Use charge to Chain Stun an already stunned unit.
- You can follow up your ultimate with Charge.
- Charge disables the picked up enemy for its duration, even if you hit nothing. You can interrupt channeling abilities with it.




Best against / Hero Counters


Swiftblade

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/15/icon_128.jpg



Kraken is a huge counter to Swiftblade, both during laning phase and later on.
On the lane, he's a very strong hero (lots oh HP) which severs the efficiency of Swiftblade's spin. His Splash (now that it's finally changed to physical) also goes through the spin, which is quite huge considering how squishy Swiftblade early on.

As for later, Demonic Breastplate f**ks Swiftblade quite hard, since he relies on physical damage.



Pandamonium
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/110/icon_128.jpg

Kraken has a magic superior, 1 second channeling slow/stun. That's immensely good against panda, as he is both slowed (he relies on his mobility in teamfights) and can't use his ulti, else he stops moving and gets stunned.
Demonic Breastplate also lowers the damage of panda.



Predator
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/39/icon_128.jpg

Predator relies on Physical damage (his passive), as well as well as armor reduction. Demonic Breastplate grants alot of armor, which screws predator pretty hard. If Kraken is equally farmed, he can not just tank predator, but actually win a 1v1 fight.
Also, Krakens ultimate can not only disable pred for 5 seconds (superior magic), but can also separate a leaping predator from his team. Ouch.



Deadwood

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/123/icon_128.jpg

Kraken breaks this hero like an old rotten stump. Kraken dominates him mid ,which forces deadwood to either side-lane, or just lose mid, which is always good for you.
He also has a stronger combination (Torrent+Splashx2+Kraken Ulti > Deadwood Ulti+Rotten Grasp), so deadwood is screwed in this sense as well.
Lastly, deadwoods ulti is physical. After you get all your armor, DW using his ulti on you is just a strong nuke+stun, nothing more, and can't take more than 1/4 of your life at max.



Devourer
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/6/icon_128.jpg

Another hero that is forced to either sidelane, or lose mid vs Kraken.


The combination of Kraken's Torrent+Splash is stronger than devo's hook. Kraken has way better last hits, and harass with Splash. Rot doesn't even count, since it damages Devo as well. Krakens ulti can disable Devo's ulti if placed just before it, since it stuns.
In short, Kraken easily wins against him.



Pestilence
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/95/icon_128.jpg

First, Kraken is a great anti-initiation hero. Once pesti blinks in, all kraken has to do is to place an ulti between pesti and his team, and his team has an advantage.
Second, pesti relies on armor reduction, while Kraken has lots of armor. At level 16, if pesti uses his ulti on a Kraken with a Breastplate, the letter will have 10 armor left.



Blinkers

:wret: :mage: :mali:
:valk: :doct: :nigh:
:dark: :bubb: :chro:

Blinkers can escape your ulti easily, and the ranged ones can by this create space to attack you from afar (in 1v1 situations). Even a semi-blink is enough to escape your ulti.



Andromeda
http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/heroes/102/icon_128.jpg

She's gonna swap, swap some more and keep swapping.
If she's on the enemy team, she can easily swap your target out of the ulti. Her death is insignificant, since the carry lives.
Try not to pick Kraken against her.



Tablet of Command

http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/images/items/Item_PushStaff.jpg


Once supporters get this item, they're gonna start pushing their carries out of your ulti.
The only real way to deal with this is try to kill those supporters at the very stat of the fight (which Kraken can usually do pretty easily).




Example Matches


Since so few people know how to play Kraken, the community has seen lots of failing Kraken builds.
That is why I add a few matches, which exemplify some points of this guide:



Kraken vs Predator mid (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22968197)


In this match, I face Predator mid (as Kraken).
At the picking phase, the enemy team picked Deadwood, but as I immediately picked Kraken as a counter, the DW put his tail between his legs and ran to the side lane. I proceeded to beat predator mid pretty hard (after the game, the deadwood QQed for like 5 minutes how pred is bad lol).
This example shows how good Kraken is against melee mid heroes, even vs Predator who is considered one of the best 1v1 mid heroes.



Kraken as a Carry (http://replays.heroesofnewerth.com/match_replay.php?mid=22099757)


In this match, I carry the game with Kraken against an enemy 3carry strategy.
At the start, I was dominating Swiftblade's lane very hard, peaking at the point where I killed the mid gladiator who came to help swift to gank me, 1v2. In the meanwhile, mid lane was failing bad, while bottom lane was even.
After that, I got a little cocky, and overextended a few times, thus I died in 1v3/1v4 situations.
After that, I started playing completely seriously, but they already closed much of the exp/gold gap, so the teams were even enough for them to turtle til very late game.
Kraken always had 300+ gpm through this game.







This is it. Yet another guide finished.
Hope to see less Kraken's getting Ghost Marchers and Ring of The Teacher after reading this.


http://images.memegenerator.net/Kraken-Dog/ImageMacro/1889017/Release-The-Kraken.jpg